Could someone who is French please help me with this grammatical matter?

Question

Hi!

Is it true that if there is a circonflexe over an 'e' vowel it means that it replaces an 's' that was in the word originally - for example
that 'crepes' (I don't have a keyboard with the sign) was originally 'crespes' which is related to the English (?) word,
'crisps'.....

and: how do you pronounce the word if it has a circonflexe?

And - please - how do you pronounce the word 'creme' with the accent grave? ....

I am sorry to bother you, but I have no one to help me right now and this comes up every time I copy out recipes...

Thank you very much!

Answer 1

In most cases, yes.

Other examples include the words hôpital (hoSpital), forêt (foreSt), and honnête (honeSt).

It also serves to distinguish between homographs; e.g., du (contraction of de + le) vs dû (past participle of devoir).

I'm not sure if it really changes the pronunciation...


Anyway, "crème" is pronounced "krehm", which rhymes with the "lem" in "lemon."

Answer 2

The short answer is no, but read on.

When the old French word had e-s-consonant, then usually the "s" has disappeared, and the "e" is lengthened, normally with a circumflex (the correct spelling), but sometimes with a grave. But just because there's an ê, it doesn't mean that's what's happened (I'm being a bit literal about the first sentence in your question).

You're right about crêpes.

Crème rhymes with "them", but the "e" sound is long, as in "there".

(Actually that's an example of what I mean - there was never an "s" in it).

Incidentally, if you've got a Windows machine, you can type these letters with Character Map. Click start, accessories, all programs, Character Map. Or, if it's not in your start menu, click start, run, and type charmap.exe.

Answer 3

The part about circonflexe is true - take hôtel for example
(remember the english word hostel?)The circonflexe does not affect pronunciation.
The first vowel in crème is pronounced like the a in Ham or Spam.So basically, crème is more or less pronounced like cram - with a french r of course.

Besides, I'm not french, hope you'll forgive me.

Answer 4

The circumflex is a replacement for 's'. In old French it used to be written. Probably the best example is 'côte' which in English is 'coast'. Don't ask me where the 'a' came from?
Also 'en hâte' 'in haste'. The vowel is lengthened.

Crème is not in the least like 'ham' - 'them' is closer, but the vowel is lengthened.

Crêpe probably came about because they are frilly round the edges - like crêpe paper!

Pronunciation problems shouldn't affect the taste of the food if you follow the recipe!

Answer 5

I am not sure about the origin of 'crêpes' but it is true that the 'accent circonflexe' is the equivalent of the 's' in some English words, for example pâte = pasta or forêt = forest.

As for the pronunciation of both 'ê and è' - because they are similar - is like the 'e' in bed or 'ea' in head.

I hope that helps :-)

Answer 6

I know about as much about French as I do about aardvarks, well, no, I think aardvarks eat ants! But I do know creme is pronounced like "them!" (I got this from the Food Network!) I don't understand why websterj got 5 thumbs down! Seemed to me he was helping! Oh well. C'est la vie. (That's French, huh????)

Answer 7

1. No
2. Crepe were never crisps
3. C R E Per
4. C R E Mer
Can't figure out why you need pronunciations when copying recipes.

Answer 8

My friend says these shoes are crepe.........but I think they're alright myself.

Answer 9

qui+wee

cava aint pronounced ka vah is pronounce sav ahwhen you say cava? is like saying what up hello you know
ca va? commentallez vous mon ami? cava is pronounced in my best suthern writing form
suh vah